If You Could See Me Now
by romanticangel92
Summary: Lois gets seriously hurt, resulting in a strange out of body experience. While trying to get back, she gets to see how certain people in her life really feel about her. Meanwhile Clark finally realises how much she really means to him. Clois, Chimmy.
1. Chapter 1 : Chase

To Lois Lane, it was just another night at the daily planet.

She beamed as she pressed the send button on her computer and sent off her article to the editor. Her and her partner Clark Kent had done well, she couldn't help but think. They had investigated a crime scene that morning and after further digging and an attempt on Lois's life (What else was new?) they had managed to catch the Metropolis's latest crime boss and put him behind bars.

Lois had a feeling that the red-blue blur would be proud of her tonight and that feeling mixed in with the satisfaction she got from chucking another scum bag where he belongs made her feel altogether elated.

Lois switched off her computer, grabbed her handbag and walked out of the daily planet, intending on going to bed as soon as she got back to her apartment so she could be fully rested for another day of investigative reporting.

As she made her way to her car her thoughts suddenly turned to Clark. He was doing much better at the planet than anyone especially she had expected. He was doing really well as far as reporting went and she knew if he kept up the good work he was well on  
his way to having a page one story someday.

Lois got into her car and turned on the engine. She had known for sometime now that what she felt for Clark wasn't just professional or friendship anymore. It hadn't been for sometime. She didn't know when it had sneaked up on her but she found her thoughts always evolved around Clark now.

Sighing she began driving down the road that would take her to where her apartment block was located. It was only a few minutes away from the daily planet conveniently enough.

Suddenly a car light caught her attention in her rear view mirror. Some idiot was driving right behind her on the road. If they weren't careful they were going to cause an accident.

Frowning, Lois speeded up only for their car to start speeding further along as well. A strange tingle went down her spine and she realised that the bastards were chasing her. They were _trying _to cause an accident.

Alarmed, Lois tried swerving but the driver of the car noticed what she was doing and managed to follow her lead, their car finally colliding into the back of Lois's. Lois lost control of her vehicle as the other driver finally managed to knock her off the side of the road.

She didn't scream, Lois Lane was no screamer but she closed her eyes as her body was flung forwards and her car crashed into a tree.

Lois fell limped against her wheel and lost consciousness, her head bleeding.

Chloe was working at watch tower when her ringtone suddenly began to float out of her handbag. She quickly grabbed her cell out of her handbag and flipped her phone open.

"Hello" Chloe said bluntly as she kept one eye on the monitor in front of her that currently showed the location of her friend and employer Oliver Queen a.k.a Green Arrow on his latest mission.

"Is this Chloe Sullivan?" a deep voice asked down the line.

"Yes, this is her speaking" Chloe replied, frowning at the sound of the unfamiliar voice.

"Hello Miss Sullivan, I am Doctor Wilson at Metropolis General Hospital. I am afraid I have some bad news for you relating to your cousin, Lois Lane" the man informed her.

Chloe's attention was abruptly stolen from the monitor and her eyes widened with worry.

"Oh no, Lois, is she alright?" Chloe asked anxiously. The Doctor seemed to hesitate for just a moment before answering.

"Your cousin was involved in a car accident. Miss Lane is stable but she is in a coma" The Doctor informed her grimly.

"Thank you for calling me, Doctor Wilson. I'll be right there" Chloe said quickly, her eyes filling with tears before she put her cell back into her handbag and grabbed her coat; leaving watch tower to be by her cousin's side.

Clark had just rescued two young children from a burning building when his cell phone went off. He was now at home on Kent farm (After speeding from Metropolis back to the farm within seconds) and grabbed his cell phone from the pocket of his suit jacket.

Clark briefly looked down at the caller I.D and saw that it was Chloe before picking up.

"Hey Chloe, What is it?" he asked quickly as he flung his jacket onto the coach before sitting down.

"Clark" Chloe's hoarse voice caught Clark's attention immediately; it sounded as if she was crying."It's Lois, there's been an accident"

Clark suddenly felt his world stop spinning from the moment she said the words Lois and accident in the same sentence.

"What happened?" Clark asked trying to remain calm but unable to control his worry for whatever it was she was going to tell him.

"She...her car was found off the side of the road just five minutes away from the daily planet...Clark...Lois is in a coma" Chloe cried down the line.

"Where are you?" Clark demanded, his mind too numb to think properly.

"Metropolis General" Chloe answered.

"I'll be there in a second" he replied and sure enough, he super-speeded all the way over to Metropolis from Smallville and still made it within a second.

As soon as he came in, he spotted Chloe and a glance was all it took before his arms were full of his petite, blonde best friend.

When Lois woke up things were not at all like she expected them to be.

For one she was standing in the middle of a road with no idea of how she got there. What had happened to her?

"Hello" Lois called out but nobody answered.

Suddenly the events of that night came flooding back at all at once like she was hit in the head with something. That person that had chased her off the road, where was he or she? And where was her car and why did she not seem to be injured at all? Lois frowned.

Oh well, she was Lois Lane, she was too tough to be injured by a minor car crash apparently. Well still...Lois thought to herself. If she found the tools that had done this to her then she was going to kick some serious ass.

They better watch their backs, she thought grimly.

Not knowing where to go, Lois decided she would go over to Clark's and see if he had a clue about what had just happened. She sighed when she realised that she had a thirty minute walk over to Kent Farm from where she was but in the end Lois decided to go anyway.

She really could use someone to talk to about this and she really didn't want to be alone tonight. Not after what had happened.

Lois began to walk and soon picked up her pace. Before long she was practically flying her way to the farm...wait a minute..._flying? _

Lois looked down and saw her feet didn't touch the ground. It was almost as if she was  
some kind of spirit but she knew that couldn't be right...not even in Smallville.

What the hell was going on? She wondered.


	2. Chapter 2 : Questions

**A/N : Thanks for the reviews! - Jess.**

* * *

Lois arrived at Kent Farm within five minutes rather than the thirty minutes she had expected thanks to her new 'super power'. Maybe she had been a meteor freak all this time and was only just finding out about it.

Lois found it hard to believe that she could suddenly float or fly, whatever the hell she could call it, out of nowhere.

That said, if she really was a meteor freak, wouldn't her power have shown up earlier?  
She was so confused right now and really needed to speak to Clark. He could help her, he always did. Lois frowned at that thought. It was true Smallville was always there for her when she needed him...she had never really given it much thought until now. The realisation made her feel slightly guilty for taking her best friend for granted.

Then again, it was Smallville she was thinking about, he was always there for everybody. She guessed she wasn't the first one to take him for granted. For a mere second she thought of Lana Lang but forced herself to push that thought away.

Lana was nothing to do with her and she refused to think about it. Right now she had more important things to worry about than Clark's ex-girlfriend.

"Smallville?!" Lois called as she entered the house.

The door had been left open; Lois noticed and suddenly felt concerned that something might have happened to Clark. Trouble did always seem to find him and it would actually fit since she had been attacked tonight.

"Smallville are you home?" she asked but there was no reply. It soon became evident that the house was empty. She rolled her eyes.

"Oh great, you disappear right when I need you" she sighed to herself and wondered what she was going to do now.

Finally Lois decided to stay at Kent farm and wait until Smallville got home. Then she could talk to him and figure out what was happening to her and who her mysterious attacker was.

"Oh my god what happened to Lois?" Jimmy Olsen asked, looking shocked as he walked into Lois's hospital room where his fiancé and Clark were already sat on either side of the reporter's bed.

Jimmy looked over at Clark and noticed that his eyes were fixed firmly on that of Lois's bruised and battered face. He turned away to comfort his fiancé who looked distraught at seeing her normally tough and feisty cousin lying still in an almost vegetable like state in a hospital bed.

"She was in a car accident" Chloe replied, her voice shaking a little.

"That's kind of weird..." frowned Jimmy. "Lois doesn't seem like the kind of person to get into a car accident" Clark looked up at Jimmy confused.

"Do you think it was something else?" he asked. Jimmy shrugged.

"I don't know. It doesn't seem suspicious but I just can't see Lois getting into an accident" Jimmy replied truthfully."And besides I don't think I would be that surprised if it wasn't an accident. I mean, Lois Lane is practically a magnet for trouble"

"Jimmy, come on, you can't think someone went after my cousin and made Lois's crash look like an accident?" Chloe exclaimed incredulously while at the same time her words got to her. Maybe Jimmy was onto something. He had always had good hunches about these things.

"Maybe we should look into it" Jimmy suggested."That's all I'm saying"

"I don't see who would want to hurt Lois" Clark said as he held one of Lois's limp hands in his own. Chloe noticed the gesture but did not say anything because she didn't want to embarrass Clark or ruin the moment.

" Clark, you and Lois practically put criminals and meteor freaks in jail and Belle Reeve for a living" Chloe was quick to out to him.

"That's the problem; there are a lot of people we've put away. The list is too long" Clark told her looking frustrated.

"Well for starters we don't know that this wasn't an accident. We need to find proof it wasn't before we jump to conclusions" Chloe said sensibly.

"We should go to the scene of the crime" Jimmy piped up.

"And we will but tonight I think we all need to head home and get some much needed rest" Chloe suggested. At her suggestion, Clark frowned at her.

"Lois needs us" he insisted. Chloe gave her best friend a sad smile.

"And we'll be there for her tomorrow but I think we could all do with some rest after the night we have had" she told him firmly."Don't make me force you out of here" Chloe added as a warning.

"As if you could" Clark retorted before looking back at the brunette in the hospital bed.

"Come on CK, Lois wouldn't want you to stay here all night and getting no rest. Besides, don't you want to fully alert for tomorrow?" Jimmy pointed out as he took Chloe's hand in his own.

"I guess your right. I'm just...I'm just worried about her that's all" Clark sighed. Chloe glanced at him sadly.

"We all are Clark but we _are_ going to get to the bottom of this and Lois is a fighter, I know my cousin won't be leaving this world anytime soon without putting up a hell of a fight".

Lois was curled up on the couch in the living room of the Kent's house when Clark returned. She immediately stood up as she saw him walked through the door. He put his jacket away before sitting down on one of the arm chairs with a sigh.

Looking at his expression, Lois couldn't help but be concerned. Why did Smallville look so...sad? She wondered for a moment if he had suddenly got a phone call of Lana but dismissed the idea as ridiculous...at least she hoped it was.

"Smallville, where have you been all night? I've been waiting up for you for ages and what's with the face?" Lois demanded but Clark didn't answer her. Instead he sighed, and began walking out of the room much to Lois's disbelief.

Why was he _ignoring _her? Nobody ignored Lois Lane that easily.

"Clark what the hell is wrong with you? Is it me? Have I done something to upset you Smallville? If I have, just tell me instead of ignoring me like a child" even though Lois was right behind him, Clark _still _made no move to answer her.

Enough was enough, Lois Lane hated having to resort to violence but the bumbling idiot was refusing to even look at her let alone answer him! Annoyed, Lois followed him as he began to walk up the stairs and held out her fist intending to punch him.

However when her fist met with his back, much to her shock, her fist went right through him.

_Holy cow, am I dead? _She mentally exclaimed.


	3. Chapter 3 : Ghost

Lois stared blankly at the space her hand had just tried and failed to meet Clark's back. What the hell had just happened? Lois wondered, her mind spinning with a thousand questions.

Something weird was going on, she knew that for sure and she guessed she could always put it down to Smallville's typical paranormal activities but Lois guessed it was also related to the fact that she had just been in a car accident and had not even a scratch or bruise.

Well there goes the idea of Lois Lane being too tough for even a stupid car crash, Lois thought with annoyance. Something was going on and Lois could bet that it was something to do with her attacker.

Snapping out her thoughts, Lois suddenly remembered the ass kicking she was planning on giving Smallville for ignoring her. Temper re-ignited, Lois stormed up the stairs and followed her partner into his bedroom, where she stormed in on him just in time to catch him taking his shirt off.

"Smallville, I don't know who you think you are but-"Lois stopped mid sentence and could only stare at Clark's bare chest, everything else suddenly forgotten. As much as it used to pain her to admit it, Smallville was gorgeous underneath his bumbling exterior.  
Lois immediately jolted herself out of it again.

"Okay just because you took your shirt off doesn't mean that this is the end of it. You can't just ignore me and then..."

Lois stopped once again as Clark continued to ignore her presence and whip off his trousers. Lois's heart began speeding up at a thousand miles an hour. Then she shook herself out of her daze once again and began to get annoyed.

Okay, it was bad enough to ignore her but to undress in front of her as if she wasn't in the room? That definitely did not sit right with Lois.

"Smallville, what the hell do you think your doing? Hello, I'm in the room!" Lois demanded and stormed up to Smallville, intending to grab his arm to stop him from taking anything...else off but once again her hand went through him.

Lois frowned.

"What the hell is this?" she asked herself and then it finally hit her. Maybe Smallville wasn't ignoring her on purpose...maybe he just couldn't hear her or see her for that matter.

She blinked as it all finally began to make sense.

Okay, if Smallville couldn't see or hear her and her hand was going through everything plus the fact she wasn't bruised at all despite being in a car accident just a few hours ago, did this make her some kind of ghost? Or spirit even?.

Lois's mind flickered back to the whole floating incident that had got her to the Kent farm quicker than she had thought it would take and she suddenly realised that maybe she was dead.

She remembered the sad expression that was on Clark's face in the living room earlier and slowly grew alarmed.

"Oh my god, I'm dead".

Horrified, Lois forgot all about Clark, who was now wearing a white shirt and boxers and floated out of the house, literally. She floated through Clark's bedroom wall and found herself speeding towards where the car accident had happened.

Lois arrived at the scene and her eyes scanned her heavily damaged car. Damn, that car cost me a three months salary, she cursed before looking around the scene for anything that could possibly answer the main question that was running through her mind: What had happened to her?

As her eyes took in the scene, a glowing green light caught her attention. Lois turned and it suddenly came together when she spotted a couple of pieces of green meteor rock hidden behind the tree.

Clark woke up the next morning to the sound of his cell phone ringing on the night stand. He reached out groggily and picked it up. "Chloe?" he groaned, after seeing her name flash on the caller I.D.

"Clark, me and Jimmy are on are way down to the crash scene. Where are you?" Chloe demanded sounding annoyed.

Clark's eyes suddenly snapped open as he remembered the previous night. He had gone to sleep and woke up assuming it was some kind of bad dream but from Chloe's words and tone of voice, he guessed that it had been true all along.

He felt his heart sink to his feet.

"I've just woken up. I was hoping it was just a nightmare" Clark admitted, embarrassed.

"Well get your butt down here pronto" Chloe ordered. Clark smiled a little as 'investigator Chloe' shone through his best friend.

"I'll be there in one second" he promised and super sped to get dressed in a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt. It was his day off from the planet thankfully so he didn't need to wear his suit.

After grabbing an apple from the kitchen, he raced to the co-ordinates that Chloe had given him the night before and he wasn't really surprised to find he had still beaten Chloe and Jimmy there.

His eyes grew hard when he saw how damaged Lois's car was. Whoever had done this, if somebody HAD done this, they were definitely going to pay.

Suddenly the sound of a vehicle caught his attention and he turned around as he saw Jimmy pulling up with Chloe in the passenger's seat. Jimmy's expression flickered with surprise for a moment but Chloe said something and his expression relaxed.

Lois had been standing there all night, just taking in the damaged car and the meteor rocks, letting her mind try to figure out what had happened.

She had been so lost in ger own thoughts that she hadn't noticed morning had come until she heard familiar voices behind her.

She turned and her eyes widened a little with surprise to see Jimmy, Chloe and Clark all stood around her damaged car.

"What do you think happened?" Jimmy asked, his eyes focused on the car. In his opinion, this didn't look like an ordinary accident. He could tell because the back of the car was damaged as well as the front.

It was almost like another car had banged into the back of it but from the police reports, there wasn't supposed to have been another vehicle involved. Something was definitely wrong.

Chloe seemed to have read his mind when she said "The back of the car... it looks like something may have rammed into Lois"

"So you think that someone did this on purpose?" Clark frowned.

"Well it looks like it" Chloe replied, eying the car carefully.

"Where do we go from here?" Jimmy wondered while Clark began to walk around the car to get a better look at the damage.

Suddenly, when he found himself standing next to the tree that Lois's car had smashed into, he felt himself weaken. He fell to floor, sweat dripping from his head and struggled to breath, let alone move.

"Oh my god, Clark" Lois gasped, looking shocked at Smallville shuddered on the ground. She looked to where her cousin was stood, talking to Jimmy. She couldn't see Clark was hurt."Chloe, help him!"

Almost as if she had heard Lois cry out, though Lois knew she hadn't, Chloe turned and her expression grew worried at the sight of her best friend on the floor.

"Clark" she exclaimed and quickly ran over to where he lay on the ground in pain.

"What's wrong with CK?" Jimmy asked as he followed her.

"Chloe...there's meteor rock behind the tree" Lois heard Clark just about manage to gasp out. Lois frowned for a moment. Was Clark allergic to green meteor rock? Well that would explain the past few incidences where she had seen green meteor rock affect Clark. But it had never seemed to be as bad as this...

Chloe, as soon as Clark had spoken, quickly helped Clark up along with Jimmy's help and moved him far away from the tree and nearer to where Jimmy's car was parked, leaving Lois behind to think about what had just happened.


	4. Chapter 4 : Feelings

After the Kryptonite incident at the scene of Lois's 'accident', Chloe decided it would be best if they came back and investigated another time when Clark had recovered from the exposure to the green stuff.

Jimmy hadn't understood the big deal but Chloe silenced his complaints by telling him Clark was 'allergic' to it which wasn't actually a lie now she thought about it so she didn't feel too bad for saying it.

Clark got into the car with Chloe and Jimmy, who wondered briefly how Clark had managed to beat them their on foot all the way from the farm but was silenced once again by his fiancé.

The three of them drove over to Jimmy and Chloe's apartment to discuss what they had seen, not knowing that they had an extra person sat hovering over the back seat next to Clark.

Lois listened to the conversation intently and felt relieved when she learnt that she was not in fact dead but in a coma.

"So who do you think was behind this then?" Jimmy asked as Chloe drove through Smallville.

"There's a long list of who could have done it" Clark replied, repeating what he had told Chloe back at the hospital. From the rear view mirror, Lois saw her cousin frown thoughtfully for a moment.

"Can you think of any stories she was investigating recently? Was there someone in particular she was investigating?" Chloe asked and Jimmy's eyes immediately went to Clark.

Lois sat upright as she began to think of the possible suspects. There were definitely a couple of people who would probably not mind seeing her in pain from the recent scandals she had been investigating and conveniently forgot to tell Clark.

Especially since she knew he would only lecture her and tell her there was way too much danger for her to get herself involved in that.

"Not really" Clark told them."The last story she wrote was that kitten stuck in a tree and how that kid hurt himself trying to rescue it for his sister"

"Clark" Chloe stated with obvious disbelief splashed across her face."That was probably just to throw you off her scent. Do you really think Lois would stick with just a story about a _kitten_?"

"Chloe, Lois would tell me if she was investigating anything else. We're partner's remember?" Clark pointed out and for a brief second, Lois felt a bit guilty. She knew he was only trying to protect her but Lois always felt like she could take of herself...which she managed to prove the night before wasn't all as true as it used to be.

"You should know my cousin by now Clark" Chloe sighed."She wouldn't tell you if she was going to do a story that could potentially put her in danger especially if she knew you would only lecture her and try to stop her. She has done this with me, plenty of times after I keep warning her away"

"So you think she could have been doing a story without telling me?" Clark asked and Lois tried to ignore the slightly hurt tone in his voice. She could stand Clark being annoyed at her but Clark hurt by her was another thing.

There was only so much guilt a girl could take.

"CK, we don't know this for sure" Jimmy was quick to jump in."It's only a possibility"

"Yeah, I guess your right and we need to look at them all if we want to find out whose responsible for Lois's 'accident'" Clark agreed reluctantly as Chloe pulled up outside of the Talon.

"Maybe we should talk to Oliver, see if he knows anything" Chloe suggested as they walked through the coffee shop and made their way to the upstairs apartment that Chloe and Jimmy lived in. Lois floated right on behind them.

"Why would she tell Oliver anything and not me?" Clark asked looking annoyed. Lois rolled her eyes and sighed.

"I didn't tell Ollie anything, Smallville. Me and Ollie haven't really talked since that whole poisoning incident anyway" Lois exclaimed and then remembered that no one could actually hear her.

Oh well, what did she care? It wasn't her fault she was some kind of spirit or ghost thing.

Chloe unlocked the door and walked through to the living room, followed by Clark and Jimmy before shutting the door, unknowingly, on Lois. Lois huffed with annoyance. This ghost thing was getting old really fast, she thought to herself before walking through the wall.

But at least it came with some cool powers.

"I know that we are putting all our energy into finding out who tried to kill my cousin but I can't stop worrying about her" Lois heard Chloe sigh in the living room.

"Hey Chloe, you said yourself Lois was fighter" Jimmy reminded her firmly."She will be fine. Knowing Lois we can probably count on her to start ranting about how much she's missed as soon as she wakes up"

"Yeah your right" Chloe smiled and held Jimmy's hand. The two of them were sat on the sofa in the living room while Lois noticed that Clark was sat on the armchair next to Jimmy's side of the sofa, looking glum.

"I've got to go to work, I'll see you guys later okay?" Jimmy said suddenly after looking at his watch. He got up but not before giving Chloe a quick kiss and leaving the apartment.

Chloe decided to take the opportunity to find out how her best friend was feeling about all of this. She hadn't had much time to ask him how he was since the previous night. She had been caught up in her own grief and then investigating what had really happened out on the road.

"Clark, I never got chance to ask you last night but how are you taking all of this?" Chloe asked him softly, moving to the spot on the sofa, Jimmy had vacated while Lois hovered above the place Chloe had moved from.

Lois found it quite difficult to sit down on a seat without floating upwards again. It was like she was some kind of balloon which annoyed her just a little bit. Gravity did not like her as a spirit.

"I don't know" Clark admitted to Chloe, honestly."I mean, Lois is Lois, she's tough. I never thought anything like this could take her down...I never expected it" Lois felt a little touched that Clark thought of her as 'tough' and suddenly it hit her that this was as good a time as any to find out what Clark Kent really thought of her.

So she guessed there were some perks to being in some kind of meteor rock induced coma after all.

Lois assumed it was the meteor rock that had given her this ability to be in this spirit form. She recalled the incident a few years ago when that girl died and came back as a spirit possessing everybody including herself and remembered all the other weird happenings that always seemed to involve the green stuff so Lois had good reason to put what had happened to her down to that.

The only problem was, how was she going to get back?

"I know what you mean" Chloe smiled, pulling Lois out of her thoughts."Lois was always a fighter"

"I never really thought of how important Lois Lane was in my life but something like this happens and it forces me to see things in a new perspective" Clark sighed.

"So what does this new perspective show you?" Chloe preyed, wanting to know what Clark felt for her cousin because she had seem the two of them together recently and there was something there that she had never noticed as much before. Something that even Clark's relationship with Lana lacked...chemistry.

"Lois was...is the most important person in my life. When Lana left I didn't know if I would ever feel that way about another person again but I realise now that my feelings for Lois haven't just suddenly grown overnight, they've been there since we met, I'm only just realising now what they were" Clark explained and Chloe inwardly smiled.

Lois sat frozen in shock as he spoke.

Was Clark Kent admitting that he had feelings for her?


	5. Chapter 5 : Unmasked

"Clark, are you telling me you have feelings for Lois?" Chloe asked, her eyebrow rising in question while Lois started intensely at the guy she knew as 'Smallville'.

"I've been in denial about it for a while now but Lois's accident has caused me to confront my feelings for her" Clark replied honestly, guilt shining in his grass green eyes."I just wish it HADN'T taken Lois being put into a coma to make me realise how I felt about her"

"Clark, don't start blaming yourself" Chloe told her best friend softly while Lois inwardly agreed with what her cousin was saying."Sometimes you need these kinds of things to happen for you to realise your feelings. I mean, Jimmy's come close to death so many times, each and every time I feel the same way you do now"

"And how do I feel?" Clark frowned at her. Chloe smiled at him sadly.

"Like a piece of your soul has been torn away from you"

"Right now that's exactly how I feel" admitted Clark, his voice cracking. Lois wasn't the kind of girl that cried easily at anything especially not anything sentimental or sappy but right now her hazel brown eyes were starting to well up just a little.

Okay maybe more than that.

Fine, a lot!

"Clark, it's like Jimmy and I have said already, Lois is a natural fighter. She won't die that easily and once she's back with us, you can tell her how you feel" Chloe told her best friend who immediately looked up at her uncertainly.

"I could never tell Lois how I feel" he said causing both Lois and Chloe to look at him disbelievingly.

"Smallville, what are you so scared of? I am not Lana!" Lois exclaimed flying up to the ceiling. She winced as her head went through the roof and she found herself staring up at the sky.

Damn, she had forgotten all about the whole hovering thing. She quickly lowered herself back in time to hear her cousin chasten Clark.

"Clark I know your still hurting over Lana but it's been six months, don't you think it's time you let go of the past and moved forward?" Chloe pointed out to him, looking annoyed.

Clark stood up and glared at her.

"Don't you think I've tried? It's not that simple" Clark told her haughtily.

"Well try harder, Smallville" Lois snapped, finally losing control of her feelings. For so long, she had been pushing aside how she felt for the man in front of her, knowing he didn't feel as strongly about her as she did for him and realising that he was still, madly, deeply in love with the pink Princess of Smallville.

But now she had, had enough. If he had feelings for her, he should act on it instead of being scared. Lois was no Lana Lang, she wasn't going to hurt him or push him into anything and she hated to think that he could think her capable of that.

She had been hurt herself in the past, she knew what it felt like, why would she want to hurt him?

"Try harder, Clark" Chloe said firmly unknowingly echoing her cousin's words.

"I guess great minds think alike" Lois mumbled to herself.

"Well it doesn't matter now anyway" Clark said changing the subject.

Both Lois and Chloe rolled their eyes at the exact same moment at Clark's predictably. That's weird, Lois thought. It's almost as if Chloe's channelling her spirit.

"What is important is finding out who wanted to hurt Lois"

"You're right" Chloe replied, her tone slightly irritated and there was a brief silence before Chloe's cell phone went off. She frowned and quickly picked it up.

"Hello?" Chloe spoke.

"Miss Sullivan I give you and your friend's one warning – stop your investigation right now or suffer the consequences" a deep voice demanded from the other side of the line. Clark, who used his super hearing to listen in frowned.

"Who is this?" asked Chloe, her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Someone you don't want to mess with" was all the voice said before hanging up. Chloe and Clark exchanged startled looks that Lois didn't understand especially since she hadn't heard the phone conversation.

"Okay, what's with the expressions?" Lois exclaimed, even though they could not hear her.

"Something is definitely off" Chloe said to Clark, her voice shaky."Someone tried to murder my cousin and wants to force my silence. What do we do now?"

"I'm going to find out who did this to Lois" Clark said, his voice cold, his eyes hard. Lois was shocked by how...frightening Smallville was looking to her right now. Out of all the years she had known him, she had never seen him look as intimidating as he did right now.

"Okay but right now we need to retrace Lois's steps" Chloe suggested, also sounding a bit nervous with the way Clark had begun acting.

"Try the daily planet" Lois said."That's the most likely place you'll find anything"

"We should go to Lois's apartment" Clark said, making Lois roll her eyes. Typical, they had her right there with them, ready to tell them everything they needed to know and they couldn't hear or see her. Also trust Smallville to say the entirely opposite thing to what Lois was suggesting.

Well since Chloe seemed to be on the same page as her today, she guessed she could count on her cousin to do the right thing.

"That's a good ideal, let's go" Chloe agreed, completely and unknowingly letting her cousin down. _Damn,_ Lois thought floating after them as they left the Talon. _I guess Chloe isn't channelling any spirit after all_.

Jimmy was at the daily planet and while he was there, he found his eyes travelling over to Lois's desk and to the computer she usually used when she came into work.

An idea suddenly hit him. What if Lois had something on her computer that could give him some clues about whoever attacked her? What if he had the answer staring right at him?

Jimmy sat down at Lois's desk and switched her computer on. The thing lit up before asking for her password. Damn – what could her password be? He tried Chloe's birthday but that didn't work and several other things before finally taking one last guess.

He typed in Smallville and suddenly he found himself logging on. When it had loaded, he went into her documents and began to carefully scan through everything. After ten or fifteen minutes of browsing, something finally caught his eye.

He double clicked on the document to open it and his eyes widened. _Lois, what have you gotten yourself into? _He thought worriedly.

"Did you do it?" the fierce sound of Tess Mercer's voice rang through the study of the Luthor mansion sending shivers down Brian's spine.

The woman could be a real vixen when she wanted to be though it wasn't really all that surprising since the redhead was the protégée of Lex Luthor himself.

Brian swallowed and forced himself out of his thoughts.

"The Sullivan girl has got the message" Brian told her nervously. Tess stood up from behind from what used to be Lex's desk and gave the hit man a glare.

"Good because I would hate to think what would happen to you if you failed a second time" she warned him. "You promised me Lois Lane was dead but apparently she is still alive, lying in a coma in Metropolis general. You better mean what you say this time because I don't give third chances and if this was Mr Luthor, you wouldn't even still be here right now"

Brian's palms were sweating heavily by now. No woman had managed to make him feel this nervous before. Then again, no woman was Tess Mercer.

"I dialled her cell phone and gave the message just a few hours ago, I swear" Brian promised.

"You better be telling the truth. Now get out of here" Tess demanded coldly. Brian nodded and quickly scurried out of there.


	6. Chapter 6 : Suspect

When Chloe and Clark arrived in Lois's apartment with Lois's 'spirit' floating behind them, the first place that they went looking for possible information was Lois's laptop.

Typical, they didn't think she was actually stupid enough to put her investigative research on her laptop? Anybody could get it.

"The place you really should be looking is the daily planet" Lois chirped to no one as they continued to 'ignore' her and go through her private files.

Suddenly Lois's eyes flew wide open. Oh god, they were going to see her desktop wallpaper...Panicking Lois flung herself in front of the screen, hoping she would somehow become visible and they would not be able to see the screen.

But as her laptop loaded up, the hope quickly died.

"Do you know what her password could be?" Clark asked Chloe and Lois let out a sigh of relief. Of course, her laptop was password protected...then again it didn't mean they couldn't guess it did it? Lois prayed they wouldn't guess it.

"Hmm, let's try her mom's name" Chloe suggested and began typing.

Fifteen minutes later they still hadn't guessed it much to Lois's relief. They had tried almost everything except for what it really was and really, Lois figured it was the most obvious of them all.

"I don't think we're going to get anywhere anytime soon" Clark sighed.

"Wait a minute, give me one last shot" Chloe told him and typed something else in. Lois wanted to yell at her cousin when her computer began logging them in.

"Chloe, do you really have to know me so well?" Lois huffed.

The computer finished loading and both Clark and Chloe were more than a little surprised when they saw the desktop wallpaper.

"Well it seems Lois has been holding out on me" Chloe gawped.

"Err...I don't know what this is" Clark muttered looking at the laptop in disbelief.

"This is...well I had no idea that she was so fixated with you" Chloe smiled, trying to stop herself from smirking.

Clark glared at Chloe and so did Lois.

Really, she was not FIXATED with Clark Kent.

"This isn't funny...we shouldn't even be on here anyway" he mumbled.

"Well this is for the sake of Lois's life" Chloe reminded him and took one last glance at the wallpaper of Clark smiling at whoever took the photo of him.

"In my defence I was really, really drunk when I made this my wallpaper!" Lois snapped to herself."And then I couldn't bring myself to change it..."

"This is really sweet..." Chloe cooed mockingly."All we need now is for you to have a wallpaper of Lois..."

For a moment Clark seem to redden but he quickly masked his expression with a scowl.

"Let's just do this so we can go" Clark growled. Chloe smirked knowingly but just before she could start going through Lois's private files and find anything more incriminating, her cell phone went off.

She looked at the caller I.D and smiled.

"Hi, Jimmy what's up?" she greeted.

"I think I know who's behind the attack on Lois" Jimmy said urgently and Chloe swapped a stunned glance with Clark, who was frozen with his own surprise at overhearing what Jimmy had said.

All Lois could do is stand there, confused.

What the hell was going on? And why couldn't they let her in on it?

_Oh yeah, that's right_, Lois thought to herself sarcastically. _It's because you're a ghost._

* * *

Lois once again found herself hovering in the back seat of Chloe's car as they made their way to the daily planet. She listened intently to Clark and her cousin's conversation.

"Apparently Jimmy has a hunch on who attacked Lois" Chloe said as she drove, despite knowing Clark had been listening in on the phone call.

Lois frowned.

Jimmy knew who had put her into a coma and effectively turned her into a gravity-defying spirit or ghost thingy?

"I don't know how he found out but I hope he's right. I want this over and done with and Lois's attacker behind bars"

"I want the same thing. I want to concentrate on Lois getting better. I hate the thought of her lying in that hospital all by herself" Clark sighed."It's bad enough her dad and sister won't visit her"

"Well at least she has me and you and Jimmy" Chloe replied as she pulled up outside of the daily planet. "We're her real family"

Lois felt her eyes prickle a little at Chloe's words and immediately inwardly cursed at herself for being so soft.

"Thanks cos, you don't know how much that means to me" Lois told her, feeling a little emotional even though Chloe could not hear anything that she said.

Suddenly Clark frowned for some reason.

Chloe gave him a strange look as they got out of the car.

"Clark, are you feeling alright?" she asked him as they walked into the daily planet, Lois floating on right behind them.

"It's nothing, I just thought..." Clark trailed off and Chloe looked at him concerned.

"You thought what?" she asked.

"It's nothing; I'm probably just imagining it" Clark shrugged and the two got into the elevator.

Lois followed them in and waited in silence as it carried them to the basement where Jimmy would be waiting for them at Lois's desk.  


* * *

Jimmy was stood next to Lois's desk, fidgeting impatiently as he waited for Chloe and Clark to turn up.

He took one more look at the files that he had found on Lois's computer as he waited.

Suddenly, a window popped up.

Jimmy frowned for a moment, wondering what that was all about until the words FILE DELETING flashed in front of his eyes and he realised immediately what was going on.

Someone (And Jimmy had his suspicions on who that was) had hacked into Lois's computer and was deleting the incriminating information.

His eyes widened, his mind began to panic.

Oh god, oh god, oh god.

"No, no, no this can't be happening" he exclaimed with frustration.

"Jimmy" Jimmy turned as he heard his fiancé call his name. Clark and Chloe looked concerned as they approached him."Jimmy is something wrong?"

"Is something wrong?" Jimmy repeated with disbelief etched all over his face."Nothing's wrong except for the fact somebody's just hacked into Lois's files and deleted the evidence!"

"What?" Clark said with alarm.

"Someone obviously wants to cover their tracks" Jimmy told them."And I think I know exactly who that person is"

"Who is it?" Chloe asked urgently, putting one hand on Jimmy's arm encouragingly.

"None other than the boss, Tess Mercer" Jimmy replied grimly.

Clark and Chloe's face's registered surprised for only a brief moment. It wasn't really all that shocking, knowing how much the redhead detested Lois.

"That B***ch" Lois snarled before floating away from the basement of the daily planet and going upwards to Tess's top floor office, intending on giving Mercer a good piece of her mind.

Meanwhile, Clark flinched.

Chloe noticed and gave him a worried look.

"Clark, are you okay?" she asked him gently.

"Yeah, Chloe, I'm just fine" Clark insisted, forcing his expression to relax.

Judging from the way Chloe was looking at him though, he didn't think she bought it somehow


	7. Chapter 7 : Voice

Lois floated up several floors from the daily planet's basement to Tess Mercer's big top floor office that overlooked the entire city of Metropolis.

When Lois hovered upwards into the office, she found the black widow herself sat behind her desk going through some files, her hair tied tightly back in it's usual bun.

Lois frowned and narrowed her chocolate brown eyes with suspicion at the woman who had attempted to kill her (and will no doubt try it again, Lois added inwardly).

"What are you up to?" Lois mumbled and looked over Tess's shoulders, to discover something that sent a chill down her spine.

A picture of the guy she knew as Smallville was looking up at them and smiling, not knowing that Lex Luthor's protégé was looking through his file.

What did she want with Clark? Lois wondered and then it came to her.

Oh hell no, the B***h was planning on killing Clark too.

Well Lois wouldn't stand for it.

"Don't you think you've done enough?" Lois sneered though Tess could not hear her and continued reading through her best friend's file. "Hell no, your going to stop that right now or I'm going to kick your ass when I get out of that stupid coma"

Lois continued to rant although she knew it was pointless. Oh well, at least it made her feel better and she managed to vent her anger and frustration somehow.

Suddenly Mercer's office phone began to ring. Lois watched with suspicion as the redhead picked it up.

"Tess Mercer speaking" Tess said in her normal icy cold tone. Someone on the other side of the line said something and then Tess's expression grew hard. "Well I expect you to get it done. Yes, I will provide you with what you need. I want him dead, do you hear me? And when you've done with Clark, go to Metropolis general and finish what you started with Lane"

Lois's face paled with shock.

While she knew that Tess had definitely wanted to kill her, she had only been jumping to conclusions about Clark. Now she begun to worry about the guy she was having strong feelings for.

She couldn't stand it if Clark got hurt and Lois had no way of warning him. She had to do something, there had to be SOMETHING Lois could do. She was a spirit after all and so far she could fly, so there definitely had be some other powers or perks that came with this right?

Lois hoped there was and if there wasn't, she was going to have to try to force herself back into her comatose body.

"I won't let you get away with this" Lois spat as venomously as she could. All Tess's answer to this was to blink as she continued to talk over the phone.

"Yes I'm sure this will work. Don't worry, Brian, I assure you, you won't get hurt, I won't allow it" Tess replied with a slight smirk on the corners of her lips showing she was lying.

Lois glared at her.

She even wanted her own henchman dead. She was nothing short of evil. She was as equally if not even more so, evil than Lex.

"You will touch Clark, over my dead body" growled Lois and even as she said it, she flinched. That was an actual possibility right now, so she shouldn't try and tempt fate.

"I will talk to you when I've sent the package" Tess said finally."Goodbye" she hung up her phone and put away Clark's folder, all the while holding a satisfied gleam in her eye.

All was going according to her evil plan, Lois figured. Well it wasn't going to be for much longer if Lois could help it.

"I don't know if anyone's told you this already but you're a complete and total B***h" Lois snapped at the woman in front of her, who was shutting her brief case, getting ready to leave. "And if I ever wake up, I've booked you in for a good ass kicking"

Tess did not reply as she left her office leaving Lois to curse and glare for all she was worth.

Downstairs, Clark tried to pay attention to Jimmy who was currently rambling about all the reasons Tess could have wanted to delete that document off Lois's computer but his thoughts just kept going back to what he had just heard, well thought he had heard.

There was no way he had actually heard Lois's voice just a moment ago or the time before that either. It was all in his head. There was no one around him, there hadn't been at all, Lois was in a coma and it was just the stress of the last twenty four hours getting to him.

Chloe kept giving him concerned looks which was quite frankly getting on his nerves now but he ignored them. There was no way he was going to make himself sound like a madman by telling her he thought he heard her comatose cousin's voice.

"CK, are you okay?" Jimmy asked suddenly, realising Clark wasn't really listening to him.

"I'm fine but we need to find Tess" Clark replied quickly.

Chloe looked him grimly. "I hate to tell you this Clark but we can't just go up to her and confront her" she explained."That would be crazy. You know she would never admit to anything"

"Well since we know it's her we don't need to confront her" Jimmy pointed out.

"She tried to kill Lois, we need to-"Clark began to insist but Chloe cut him off.

"Clark if we try to rush into something without thinking it through, she might just try to kill us as well and where will that leave Lois?" Chloe sighed.

"Absolutely nowhere" Lois herself agreed after she had floated back down into the basement, just in time to hear the last part of the conversation. Clark frowned.

"Did you hear something?" Clark asked Chloe and Jimmy who stared at him oddly.

"Clark...what's wrong?" Chloe looked at her friend with concern.

"I keep hearing something, it doesn't matter" Clark said vaguely.

"You keep hearing something?" Jimmy exclaimed, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh it's probably just a buzzing in his ear" Lois said dismissively, wanting them to get back to discussing Tess Mercer.

"It's just a buzzing in my ear" Clark shrugged and Lois's eyes widened a little. Okay, first Chloe, now Clark. Seriously they had to stop doing this.

"Well if you say so CK" Jimmy replied, eying him with concern.

"What should we do about Tess then?" Clark asked, changing the subject back to Tess.

"I say we check out what she's up too. We need to find out what it was Lois was investigating about her that landed my cousin in a coma" Chloe suggested, letting go of her concern for now.

"That woman is going to destroy the world" Lois snapped."I found out that-"

"I need to go for some fresh air" Clark said suddenly, worrying Chloe and Jimmy once again."We'll discuss this later, I'll meet you at the talon"

"Okay, Clark..." Chloe trailed off.

Lois frowned at Clark.

"Smallville, what the hell do you think your doing? I want Tess Mercer sorted out right now!" Lois exclaimed with annoyance, floating on behind Clark as he got into the planet's elevator, ignoring the looks that Chloe and Jimmy were giving him.

"Get out of my head" Clark grumbled."You're not even here and you still somehow managed to find a way to annoy me"

Lois's brown eyes widened an inch, startled. Could he see her? She floated in front of him but Clark was staring right through her. So that answered that then.

"Smallville, I think you're cracking up, I mean, your talking to yourself, in an elevator" Lois ranted and Clark scowled.

"I can't miss Lois so much that I've started imagining hearing her insult me..." he muttered to himself, frowning.

Lois's face brightened. He could hear her? Well at least this spirit thing was finally giving her someway of communicating. Sure, this wasn't as good as him being able to see her but she would take what she could get.

"Smallville, okay, this might be a little hard to believe but you are really hearing me. I'm right in front of you but you can't see me, I'm some sort of spirit or ghost, I've been with you most of last night and all day today since the accident" Lois desperately babbled at Clark, whose expression was now one of disbelief.

"Okay I'm definitely going crazy" he grumbled and walked out of the daily planet, Lois floating behind him, starting to get frustrated.

Did Smallville really have to be so stupid?


	8. Chapter 8 : Presence

Clark decided when he began walking down the busy Metropolis Street, that where he really wanted to be right now was at the hospital with Lois.

Maybe there he'd be able to figure out what was going on in his head. Why he was hearing Lois's voice so clearly...almost as if she was really there with him.

He frowned; there was no possible way for him to hear Lois's voice when she was in a coma. He was going nuts.

For a moment, Clark allowed his mind to wander back to the scene of the accident and remember the huge pile of Kryptonite hiding behind the tree. Surely...no, that was just stupid. Kryptonite could do a lot of things but it couldn't bring Lois to him could it?

Suddenly Clark frowned as he remembered what happened to that girl called Dawn in his final year at Smallville high. She had been in a similar accident to Lois and the Kryptonite had managed to somehow turn her into a body snatching spirit.

What if this wasn't completely in his head? Clark wondered as he crossed the street, towards the outside of Metropolis general car park. **(or is it parking lot in American terms? can't remember, sorry!)**

Deciding it was worth a shot, Clark suddenly said out loud "Lois?" he stopped and waited. He decided to see rather or not he was just hearing things back at the planet.

Clark heard no reply, so he continued on, shaking his head until that sharp familiar voice pierced his ear.

"Clark, you can hear me. This is real" Lois said as the hovered right next to him. At first she had been a bit taken by surprise when he had said her name, which was why she had not answered instantly but she had quickly snapped out of it.

"Lois, if you're real and I can hear you...how...how is this happening?" Clark muttered, as people passing him in the busy foyer of the hospital stared at him oddly.

"I don't know. The last thing I remember is the accident and waking up as a floating spirit" Lois told him as he walked to the reception desk.

The woman behind it immediately looked up.

"What can I do for you, sir?" she asked with a bright smile that made Lois want to punch her in the face for. People were dying, people were lying in comas but the woman still had the nerve to smile happily as if nothing was happening.

Lois wanted to throttle her.

"I'm here to see Lois Lane" Clark told her and the woman gave him Lois's room number. He hadn't bothered to remember it after the last time he had been. As he walked, he heard Lois's voice babbling on in his ear.

Okay, there were definitely no doubts as to whether she was real or not now.

"I mean seriously, Clark? How can she just sit there and grin as if the world is a bright and happy place? Not one where people like Tess Mercer can sit around and play god with people's lives" Lois ranted, her spirit looking angry as she stormed down the hallway after Clark.

"Wait, you know it was Tess?" Clark whispered as he made it to her room.

"I've been with you the whole time and she's the only one I've been investigating lately that would want to silence me...with the information I've got, I'm not surprised" Lois told Clark, who turned to look at the empty space beside him to glare at it.

Lois was on his other side and just stood there smirking as he began speaking to the thin air.

"I can't believe you would investigate Tess and not tell me about it...I thought we were partners" Clark said, his tone hurt, suddenly wiping the amused smirk of Lois's face."And wait, did you say you were with me the WHOLE time?" Clark's eyes widened slightly with alarm.

"Yes I was with you the whole time, yes I did hear what you said to Chloe and Clark, I investigated Tess because I didn't want you to worry about me or try to intervene" Lois replied, her voice weary.

"I'm sorry" Clark said suddenly as they walked into Lois's room.

Lois looked confused.

"For what?" she asked.

"For giving you a reason not to trust me because if you did, you wouldn't be here right now in a coma and trapped as a spirit and I'm sorry you had to hear everything I said to Chloe" Clark explained his expression sad.

Lois felt annoyance rise up within her. How could he think she didn't trust him and why was he sorry she heard what he had said? Did he have to find a reason to feel guilty for everything?

"Clark, I know this might be difficult to believe but trust me when I say that everything is not always your fault" Lois snapped huffily."For starters, I do trust you, believe me, I do but your so over protective and while that is one of the best things about you Smallville, it can get seriously in the way when I'm trying to get a story. I investigated Tess secretly because I've always thought there was something off about her and now I've been proven right. And finally, about what you said...I'm not sorry I heard it. You never would have said those things to my face, you said it yourself and I wanted to hear them. You just don't know how much"

Clark frowned at the sadness he heard in her voice. He guessed she wanted to say something else but then his cell phone went off. He quickly grabbed it out of his jacket pocket.

"Hello?" Clark asked hesitantly since he did not see any caller I.D on his phone.

"Drop your investigation. If you want your girlfriend's condition to remain stable and your friends to still be alive by tomorrow morning, stop looking into what happened to Miss Lane" a low voice warned before there was a click and the phone went dead.

Clark stared at his cell for a moment.

"Clark, what's going on?" Lois's voice broke through his thoughts.

"Someone was warning me to drop looking into your accident" Clark replied grimly.

"You should listen to them" Lois said urgently, remembering what Tess was planning."Clark I was spying on Tess earlier. She plans on getting someone to finish the job they did on me before killing you. You need to watch out and don't stay at the farm. I'll bet you she will send someone out there at some point"

Clark narrowed his eyes.

"I'm not afraid of Tess Mercer" he told Lois, his voice unwavering.

"Smallville, while your bravery is commendable it's also stupid. Tess Mercer will kill you if you don't do something. Stay with Chloe and Jimmy or even better, stay at my apartment. I don't think they will think to look for you there" Lois insisted.

Clark lost himself in thoughts for a moment. It was either tell Lois his secret and put her in danger (though it wasn't as if she wasn't already knee deep in it at the moment) or go along with her suggestion.

Finally, he decided he would just listen to Lois for now but if worst came to worst; he would have to tell her his secret. There's no way he'd be able to keep hiding it if she was around him all the time and not to mention invisible.

He just couldn't NOT use his powers if there was an emergency. Resignedly, Clark looked at the comatose body of Lois, lying in the hospital bed, almost imagining that her spirit was sitting beside him.

Really, the Lois spirit was actually sat on the bed her body was lying in. She stared intensely at Clark's contemplative expression as he thought about her suggestion.

"Fine but first I need to go to the talon and warn Chloe and Jimmy" Clark sighed.

"Thank you, Clark" Lois said, relieved and though Clark could not see it, she smiled at him softly.

Jimmy and Chloe were sat in the talon drinking coffee when the doors swung open and Clark finally came walking in, looking urgent. Chloe had been wondering what was up with her best friend all day but had refrained from pushing, knowing he would only pretend he was alright and not tell her anything at all.

"Clark, what is it?" Chloe asked as he sat down next to her.

"CK is everything all right?" Jimmy piped up with a frown.

"You two need to get out of here. We're all in danger. You need to stay someone safe" Clark warned them, with a serious expression.

Jimmy and Chloe exchanged looks before looking back at him.

"Are you sure about this Clark?" Chloe raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. Now you need to pack some stuff and go somewhere safe" Clark ordered and Chloe inwardly rolled her eyes at his bossy manner but she knew he was only trying to protect her and Jimmy.

He was the best friend a girl could have really. She knew she took him for granted a lot of the time but when she had the chance; Chloe truly did appreciate everything he did for her.

"Fine; just look after yourself okay?" Chloe told Clark.

"Chloe, we can go stay with my cousins down in Metropolis" Jimmy told his fiancé as they got up from where they were sitting.

Jimmy froze for a moment as he watched Chloe walk up the spiral staircase that led to their upstairs apartment.

"CK, do you have somewhere to go?"

"I'm going to stay at Lois's apartment" Clark told Jimmy.

Jimmy nodded.

"That's a good idea. Well, I better go and help Chloe pack. We'll call you later" Jimmy told him.

"Be careful" Clark said grimly.

Jimmy smiled at him bravely before disappearing upstairs.

"I hope they'll be alright" Clark heard Lois sigh.

Lois was floating on one of the tables and wore a worried expression. She knew first hand what Tess Mercer was capable of. She didn't want Clark or her little cousin and Jimmy underestimating her.


	9. Chapter 9 : Honesty

Clark entered Lois's apartment after going back to the farm briefly to some of his things.

He had had to borrow Chloe's car (She was riding with Jimmy in his) since his truck was parked at the farm where he had left it that morning and he couldn't just super speed in front of Lois.

It was making him just want to tell her all about himself, he had been wanting to for a while now but he knew he just couldn't do it at that moment. Not while she was still in a coma, it just didn't seem like the right time even though he knew that was probably just an excuse to prolong it.

Clark was followed into the apartment by Lois, who had been silent for quite some time now. It was a change and it had Clark worried. Maybe she had gone off somewhere or maybe she actually was just in his head.

Almost as if she could tell what he was thinking, she let out a loud sigh.

"I just want this all over with. I want to wake up and I want that B**ch behind bars" Lois spat, anger dripping from her voice.

Clark frowned sympathetically as he sat down on Lois's couch. The laptop was still there from when he and Chloe had been investigating. He blushed as he remembered her screen saver.

"Smallville, are you okay?" Lois had seen his expression change and it looked for a moment like he was blushing. Her eyes followed where his eyes were staring and she realised what he was looking so embarrassed about.

That stupid wallpaper! She knew she should have changed it...but somehow she just couldn't bear to. It was like she needed Smallville with her all the time in some shape or form. She didn't like that feeling, she had, had it before with Oliver and look how THAT had turned out.

Lois didn't need her heart breaking again...which she knew was a good possiblity especially when Clark wasn't completely over Lana so she did what she always did. She turned on her defence mechanisms.

"Look, I know you know about...my desktop wallpaper but just so you know, I was really not in control of myself when I did that..." Lois trailed off as Clark gave her (or the thin air where she was standing, his eyes had followed where her voice was coming from) a small smirk.

"Then why didn't you change it Lois?" Clark asked. Damn, someone was being awfully quick tonight. Typical, he was oblivious when you didn't want him to be but when you need him to be dim; he's as sharp as a knife.

Lois went red and was relieved that all he could hear was her voice and not actually see her spirit.

"T-That isn't important!" Lois exclaimed, changing the subject."What I want to know is why your the only one who can hear me" Clark's brow furrowed as he threw his jacket off.

"I don't know" Clark lied, already knowing the reason.

It must be because I'm an alien, Clark thought.

"It's weird. If I was going to think anyone could hear me, I would have said Chloe" Lois mused and suddenly Clark, for some unknown reason, felt a sharp pang of jealously towards his best friend.

Why would she think Chloe should see her anymore than him? Clark knew as soon as he thought that he was being ridiculous. Chloe and Lois had grown up together, they were as close as sisters, and Chloe had known her longer and knew her much better, so of course it was only logical for Lois to think that.

Clark, for the better half of knowing her, had not bothered to get to know her and could barely stand her most of the time. Why would she think he would hear her?

"Earth to Smallville, are you there?" Lois, even though she knew Clark would not see, waved her hands in front of his face.

He looked up and blinked. He had been so lost in his own thoughts he had not realised that Lois would have been waiting for an answer.

"Sorry, Lois, I was just thinking..." Clark trailed off, Lois stared at him.

"What was so important that it took your attention away from _me_?" Lois scoffed but she actually wanted to know.

Clark frowned, wondering if maybe this was the time that he actually talked to Lois about what he felt for her. The two of them had been dancing around the subject for so long...and now this had happened.

Maybe there was something more to the fact that Clark was the only one that could hear her other than being an alien. Maybe it was because he was supposed to?

"Well actually, your the reason" Clark admitted and though he couldn't see it, Lois's eyes widened an inch. Was Smallville actually going to have the balls to admit how he felt to her face...or technically, ears?

"What do you mean?" Lois questioned like the investigative reporter she was.

"I know you heard me talking to Chloe earlier. I have feelings for you, Lois" Clark said, taking a deep breath and finally saying what he had been holding in for some time now.

"Way to be specific Smallville" Lois drawled sarcastically."What do you mean by feelings?"

"Lois can't you take this seriously?" Clark snapped suddenly losing his grip on his normally mild temper."Don't you already know I'm falling in love with you?" he hadn't been intending to say that, he had not said the L word since he had been with Lana but Lois had always had a way of making him snap.

Clark's eyes widened as he realised what he had just said. Lois's face was stunned. She had expected Smallville to make some witty retort like he normally did but that...that was unexpected.

"Did you just say you're falling in love with me?" Lois asked, her voice coming out more high pitched than she had intended.

"It wasn't what I meant to say" Clark said quietly. Lois stared at his face searchingly for a moment wondering briefly about Lana. She pushed Clark's pretty ex-girlfriend from her mind immediately.

This was about them right now, not Lana...

"But did you mean it?" Lois replied, her voice soft. She floated towards him and put a hand on his shoulder, ignoring the fact that she could not actually touch him and her hand went right through.

"Lois, I-"before Clark could finish his answer, his cell phone went off. Lois watched as he grabbed it out of his jacket that was lying on the couch. "Hello?"

"Clark, oh god, I need help" Chloe's voice came down the line in a heavy sob. Clark's expression grew worried which in turn made Lois worry.

What was going on? She hoped to hell that it wasn't anything to do with Chloe or Jimmy...

"Chloe, what's happening?" Clark wanted to know.

In the background, he heard Chloe's horrified scream of Jimmy's name.

"Clark, we were followed. Tess's guy drove us off a bridge; it's near where Lois had her accident. Please come quick, Jimmy's unconscious and I can't move my legs. Clark, the guy's just got out of the car, Clark, he has a gun, you need to hurry"

After Chloe urgently told him where they were, Clark quickly shoved his cell back into his jacket pocket and shoved his jacket back on.

Forgetting all about Lois's presence, he super sped out of the apartment and to where Chloe said she and Jimmy were.

Lois floated quickly behind him, her eyes wide from seeing Clark use one of his powers and only one thought was currently running through her mind.

_Holy cow, Clark was the red blue blur._


	10. Chapter 10 : Save

Chloe felt her heart thudding in her chest as she lay upside down in the turned over car.

The guy, presumably Tess's hit man, began to get closer and closer to the car, a gun held tightly in his hand. She began panicking but she couldn't move.

When was Clark going to come save her?

The guy didn't shoot at her right away.

He looked at her coldly for a moment before going to the trunk of his car and pulling out a box. Chloe frowned; what was he doing?

Suddenly the guy turned the box upside down and big glowing green chunks of meteor rock fell out and onto the road.

Her eyes widened; her expression one of horror.

It was Kryptonite.

Of course Lex must have confided in Tess about Clark so she knew everything including his secret...and his weakness.

What have I got Clark into? Chloe wondered panicking.

The man turned back to the car and began smirking.

"Your alien friend won't be able to see you. Your boyfriend will be dead by the time help comes and so will you. That reporter will be finished with by the end of the night as well"

At the mention of her comatose cousin, Chloe was about to say something cutting and angry when suddenly there was a blur of red and blue in the distance.

"Not if I stop you" Clark said, speeding in front of them.

The hit-man turned and grinned crookedly at Clark. Clark came closer but then fell to his knees, weak. His eyes immediately locked onto the huge chunks of Kryptonite in front of him.

So Tess had told him how to weaken him.

Clark exchanged a worried glance with Chloe.

With Clark lying in the middle of the road helpless, they were as good as dead.

"You're really going to be able to put up a good fight when your down on the floor like that" the guy drawled sarcastically, laughing cruelly as he began to load the gun that was in his hand.

Once Lois had finally managed to recover from the shock of discovering that Clark of all people, Clark, her work partner, the farm boy from Smallville, her best friend and the man she...loved, was Metropolis's very own red-blue blur.

Clark Kent was a hero, Lois could barely believe it.

No wonder him and Oliver were so secretive, she realised as she began to quickly fly off into the direction Clark had supersped in. Somehow, it was like she could sense where he was so it wasn't too difficult to trace him down.

On her way, Lois wondered if Clark was ever planning on confiding in her about his secret or if he would never trust her with it.

Maybe he didn't trust...Lois shook her head, forcing herself to think of something else, only being jolted out of her thoughts as she finally made it to where she had followed Clark.

Her eyes widened with horror.

Clark was on the floor looking severely ill and Jimmy's car was overturned by the side of the road.

She came close and knelt down next to Clark as she caught the guy that had put her into a coma load his gun. _Tess, _Lois realised angrily before looking down at the desperate sight in front of her and remembering her cousin needed help, quickly.

"Clark, you need to get up, you need to help Chloe..." Lois whispered urgently.

Clark's expression grew shocked and his green eyes widened comically. He had completely forgotten about Lois it seemed.

"I don't care that you're the red blue blur or that you never told me. I understand. But you need to get up and save my cousin and Jimmy"

"I-I- can't" Clark managed to croak out weakly."Meteor rock weakens me"

"Oh god" Lois hissed."What are we going to do? You're all going to die if I don't do something!"

"L-Lois" whispered Clark weakly."Remember what I said before?"

"Smallville now is not the time. We need to come up with a plan..." Lois's voice rang out urgently in his ears but Clark barely took it in.

He could barely breathe as Tess's Hench man frowned.

"There are no bullets, Damn, I forgot the bullets" he growled angrily and Lois and Clark both felt relieved. But the relief quickly died as the guy flung the gun down onto the ground and shrugged."Oh well, it doesn't matter"

"You can't shot us now" Clark pointed out weakly."If you move the rocks, I'll help you get away from Tess...I promise"

The man just smirked darkly and ignored Clark's attempt at persuading him to give up. He never gave up on any of his jobs, no matter who he was working for. This time was no different.

"Maybe I can't shoot you but I still have a car. I guess it will be quite appropriate. I mean, I did use a car on your friends after all, perhaps it's only fitting that I do the same with you" he sneered.

At his words, Lois got up onto her feet and practically snarled at the man in front of her.

"You won't hurt Clark while I'm still here and while we're at it, I hope Tess is paying you enough to get your ass kicked by a spirit" Lois fumed.

"Any last words?" the hit man, Lois suddenly remembered Tess called Brian over the phone, asked smugly as he opened the door to his car.

Lois rolled her eyes.

"Oh please, can't you at least be original? That's the oldest villian line in the book" she sniped even though only Clark could hear her.

Clark smiled a little. At least if he was going to die now, at least it was to the sound of Lois's voice insulting the man who was going to kill him in her typical Lois fashion.

"Y-You won't get away with this" Clark breathed out.

"Miss Mercer has me fairly well protected" Brian replied smugly as he got into his car.

"Oh yeah, well that isn't what I heard" Lois retorted in her usual biting tone but secretly she was beginning to panic.

If she didn't do something, Clark was going to be run over and he actually would be seriously hurt because of the Kryptonite. Lois had to remind herself that Clark wasn't invincible just because he happened to have superpowers...

"Clark!" Chloe screamed from Jimmy's car, looking and sounding frightened. Lois turned her eyes to Clark as Brian started up his car.

"Clark, you've got to move, you need to at least try!" Lois exclaimed, horrified.

"I-I can't" Clark croaked."L-Lois, what I said earlier...I meant it"

"Clark don't do this now" Lois whimpered as tears filled her eyes."You're going to be alright, you don't need to do this now..."

Even though he couldn't see her, Clark's eyes moved to exactly where her face was.

"Yes I do" he replied."I-I love you"

"I love you too, Smallville" Lois smiled weakly, a tear leaking down her cheek."And your not going to die, not if I have anything to say about it"

Clark was about to answer her but the bright headlights of Brian's car suddenly blinded his sight.

Lois saw Brian's car about to hit Clark and suddenly without even thinking, she threw herself in front of the car and the kryptonite, in an attempt to shelter Clark.

Meanwhile Clark lay completely still on the road, with his eyes closed tightly, waiting for the impact but he felt nothing.

Maybe his death had been quick, he wondered. But as he opened his eyes he was shocked to see that Brian's car had somehow been driven off the side of the road, right next to Jimmy's car.

"Lois?" Clark said Lois's name but there was no reply.

He frowned."Lois? Lois, are you there?" there was still no sound.

Clark looked down and saw blood splattered all over the chunks of Kryptonite.

But the blood was definitely not his.

His clothes were not even ripped nor did he have a scratch anywhere on him.


	11. Chapter 11 : Hope

Clark didn't even have time to contemplate what had just happened when he heard Chloe screaming his name.

"Clark, help us!" Clark quickly made his way over to Jimmy's car and turned it over. He looked through the broken window to see Jimmy's head lying still against the wheel while Chloe's legs were crushed by the front of the car being dented into the front seat.

Clark's expression grew determined as he pulled Jimmy and Chloe safely from the car. Chloe hugged Clark tightly, her face streaming with tears.

"Clark we need to get to the hospital quickly...Jimmy's seriously injured" Chloe pleaded.

"He'll make it" Clark said firmly, _so will Lois,_ a small voice whispered in his mind. He shook it off to concentrate on getting Jimmy to the hospital. As he ran, he did not look back but if he had, he would have seen the blood on the meteor rocks disappear.

With Jimmy in his arms and Chloe holding onto his back, Clark super sped to Metropolis general, fear clenching his heart as he wondered whose blood was on the road and what had happened to Lois's voice.

He had no more time to dwell on it as he entered the foyer of the hospital and looked for the nearest nurse.

"Excuse me, my friend and her fiancé were in an accident" Clark quickly explained to the closest nurse, a kind looking auburn haired woman whose name tag said Emily.

"Please see Jimmy first, he's hurt more" Chloe said, her voice shaky as another nurse came over and lowered Chloe gently into a wheelchair.

"Of course" Nurse Emily said softly and helped the paramedic's lift Jimmy's body onto a stretcher. He was still alive but barely.

Clark barely listened as the nurse told him if he hadn't come any sooner, Jimmy would have died.

As soon as she finished talking, Clark quickly decided to go to Lois's room.

He did care about Chloe and Jimmy but right now he wanted to know what had happened to Lois. What had happened back there? Why was he not hurt at all and whose blood was on the rocks? Clark needed to figure this out.

He walked down the hallway that led to Lois's room before finally reaching the door. His hand on the knob, he opened the door and did not know what to expect...however, he had NOT been expecting what then happened.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chloe was fine after having several tests run on her."Is it safe for me to go now? I really need to make sure my fiancé is okay" Chloe said anxiously as the Doctor finished his exams on her.

The Doctor smiled kindly.

"Everything seems to be fine Miss Sullivan" he said but then frowned."You do know you're an extremely young lady? Most people in that kind of accident, the way the car crushed your legs, probably would not be able to even walk ever again, yet you seem to be barely bruised"

Chloe squirmed uncomfortably as she remembered her meteor power. It seemed it hadn't completely vanished.

"I know, thank you Doctor but I should really-"before Chloe could finish, the door flung open and her friend Davis Bloom came in, worry etched all over his face.

"Chloe I heard you were in an accident" he said, looking concerned.

Chloe smiled.

"I was but I'm perfectly fine. Now I really should go see Jimmy..." Chloe trailed off and jumped off the table she had been sat on.

"Miss Sullivan, please take good care" The Doctor cautioned her.

"Jimmy, is he okay?" Davis asked her before she could answer the Doctor.

"I will take great care and I hope so, Davis" Chloe replied to both medical professionals at the same time before leaving them behind in the office to go search for her fiancé.

Eventually, one of the nurses directed her to Jimmy's room.

Surprisingly they had not needed to operate on him. He was unconscious but he was stable. He had taken a hard hit to his head but they were going to keep him for a few days of observation and that was it.

Chloe was relieved.

It seemed someone; somewhere was looking out for them.

"Jimmy, I love you" Chloe whispered, holding his hands as he lay in the bed asleep.

_At the same time_

Lois had seen the car heading straight towards her but she didn't bother to move, she needed, no wanted, to protect Clark.

He meant too much to the world, to _her, _to die tonight and even though she knew she was only a spirit right now, Lois just prayed Clark would be okay and that she would be able to save him somehow with whatever spirit powers she possessed.

At the same time that she thought that, she unexpectedly felt the cool hard steel of the car make hard impact with her body.

She felt her breath rush out of her body as she was flung backwards on top of the meteor rocks, blood leaking fast from her stomach.

"Smallville" Lois whispered hoarsely before she felt herself being pulled away by a powerful force.

Darkness began to surround her and then her eyes began to close completely as the spirit of Lois disappeared completely.

Meanwhile in the hospital, where Lois Lane lay unconscious, a green light floated out of her body and Lois opened her eyes in her earthly body for the first time since her accident.

Memories of the previous day flashed through her mind quickly...Clark, Chloe and Jimmy. Clark was the red blue blur...and was also in danger.

That thought made her sit right up in her bed. Tess Mercer was behind her accident. It was then Lois suddenly realised where she was.

She was in her hospital room...she was back in her body.

"It worked..." Lois eyes widened as she realised she had protected Clark.

He was safe.

For now anyway, she thought as she remembered the green K. She needed to find Clark and get rid of it so he could help her cousin and Jimmy.

Quickly, Lois unattached herself from the tubes and wires hooking her up to the machine and raced across the room, reaching for the door.

She was about to swing it open when someone did it for her.

Brown eyes widened with shock.

How did _he _get here?

"Lois..." Clark said her name, frozen with shock.

"Clark" she replied, her face seeming equally as stunned as his.


	12. Chapter 12 : Consequence

Lois stood frozen with surprise for a few seconds that felt like hours. Clark was here, he had made it, she had actually somehow managed to save him!

Meanwhile Clark was just as frozen with his own shock.

Lois was comatose just a few hours ago and a voice inside of his head that may or may not have been real but now here she was awake.

Lois was about to say something when she felt her eyes roll to the back of her head and a sharp pain in her stomach.

Clark snapped out of his stupor in time to realise Lois was about to collapse...and she was bleeding heavily.

"Lois" he exclaimed with shock, he quickly caught her before she hit the ground. "Someone please help me" he yelled.

It was only a second before the room was filled with doctors and nurses that came to his aid.

Lois was quickly put on a table and rolled away for emergency surgery, leaving behind a horrified Clark.

What the hell had just happened? He thought with shock.

Chloe was with Jimmy when a blur of red and blue rushed up beside her, blowing her hair all over the place while he was at it.

Chloe glanced up and immediately felt worried when she saw Clark's red rimmed eyes that had obviously been crying, he also looked scared, which was something that Chloe rarely ever saw anymore, making her worry worst.

"Clark, are you okay?" she asked with concern for her best friend.

"It's Lois" Clark said, his voice trembling, Chloe sat up straighter, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up.

The way Clark said her cousin's name like that definitely wasn't a good sign. Please be okay, Lois, Chloe silently prayed.

"She woke up" Clark continued.

Chloe's eyes widened. If she had woken up...shouldn't that be good?

"Clark what happened?" Chloe asked him, her face anxious.

Clark swallowed.

"I opened the door and she was just standing there before the next thing I know, she collapsed and started bleeding. It was like some invisible force had hurt her" Clark explained, his voice breaking.

Chloe felt tears fill her eyes once again that night for someone who was a member of her family (while Jimmy wasn't related to her by blood, he was her fiancé which made him her family or as good as).

"Oh my god, what's happening right now?" asked Chloe weakly.

"She's in surgery" Clark answered emotionally."I don't know what happened to her but something just isn't adding up...first what happened on the road, hearing Lois's voice when she was in a coma and now this"

Chloe's eyes widened at Clark's words and he realised a little too late what he had let slip. He could only hope she believed him and didn't think he was crazy.

"Did you just say you heard Lois's voice while she was in a coma?" Chloe exclaimed.

"Yes, I'm not crazy, I actually heard her voice...it was so real. She heard everything we said and did today" Clark said, sounding a little defensive, as if he had expected Chloe to label him as insane...which he did.

But surprisingly, her expression, while worried, had turned thoughtful.

"Well that explains how weird you were being at the daily planet" Chloe replied."And I guess we can put it down the amount of Kryptonite I found at the side of the road this morning"

"Wait, you think Kryptonite is behind this?" Clark asked her, uncertainly.

"Yes...I think that what may have happened is that all the Kryptonite made Lois have some sort of out of body experience when she hit her head making her comatose...I mean it did happen to Dawn Stiles right and this is proven by the fact you could hear her voice"

Chloe babbled almost as if she was talking to herself."Though I have no idea why YOU heard her and not anyone else..."

"It might be because of how I feel" Clark suggested unsurely.

"That is a possibility" Chloe agreed."Then there's the fact that Tess's guys car suddenly drove off the road as if an invisible force had protected you"

"The blood" Clark blurted out suddenly, causing Chloe to frown with confusion.

"Clark, what do you mean?" Chloe asked her best friend, looking really confused.

"When that guy used the Kryptonite on me in the middle of the road, after he crashed, I got up and saw blood on the Kryptonite. It disappeared a few seconds afterwards when I was taking you and Jimmy to Metropolis general"

Clark told her, his eyes no longer tearful but focused as if he was concentrating really hard on figuring whatever plot Tess or Lex were up to...which he was except this time it was all about Lois.

"Oh my god" Chloe muttered."It's like a spirit force or something. Like Lois had an out of body experience granting her spirit powers or something. I sound ridiculous right now but I think I might be onto something"

"What do you think we should do?" Clark asked Chloe, his brows furrowed.

"Clark, there is nothing we can do now. It's up to the doctors to save Lois but we can always investigate what happened for answers" Chloe told him, her heart breaking at the thought of her cousin potentially dying because of this.

She was going to kill Tess Mercer with her bare hands if that happened and she was pretty sure now that Clark wouldn't mind joining her.

"Then let's do it. Anything's better than waiting here worrying about Lois" Clark replied, his voice shaking a bit when he mentioned Lois.

"Your right" Chloe agreed and the two left the hospital, Clark running at super speed back to the Talon where Chloe had left her laptop.

It was four hours later that Chloe had stumbled upon anything worth while after spending ages surfing the internet for information on her trusty laptop.

She was sat with it on her sofa with Clark said beside her. It had taken five cups of coffee and thoughts of her cousin to keep her going and awake.

Clark had not been tired at all since coming to the Talon. He just wanted answers about what had happened to Lois. It felt like his alien heart was beating fifty times faster than usual for Lois.

Clark could not believe it had taken Lois coming dangerously close to death for him to realise what he felt about her. He had been unsure when he had accidentally said the L word to her disembodied voice earlier but now he knew for certain now that he was in love with her.

"Clark, look at this" Chloe said and Clark was immediately snapped out of his thoughts.

"What is it?" he asked her.

Chloe turned the laptop screen to him. Much to his annoyance, it was a Luthorcorp page.  
Why was he not at all surprised?

"I hacked my way into Lex's private files and this is what I found. Apparently, Lex and now Tess had been doing some experimenting on their workers with Kryptonite. They wanted to find out if Kryptonite could bring people back to life"

Chloe rolled her eyes at that. It had Lex Luthor written all over it. "But instead all Lex found was that he could hear his worker cursing and threatening him all day but the catch was, he couldn't see anyone there with him when it was happening. A few more workers later and Tess had the same findings"

Clark's eyes widened. "So you think Kryptonite can cause anybody to have an out of body experience if they are seriously injured?" Clark asked her.

Chloe nodded.

"It was the one thing that saved Lois's life that night" Chloe told him softly.

"But how does this explain the weird incident earlier?" Clark inquired looking puzzled. Chloe sighed.

"Apparently they also get meteor like powers when they are, let's say 'floating' about" she told him."I think Lois made her able to physically save you though she was nothing more than a spirit"

"She sacrificed herself for me" Clark croaked, his voice cracking."This is completely my fault"

"Clark this is not your fault" Chloe snapped with anger."If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. I asked for your help, I fell for his trap and put you in danger. If I had thought about it more carefully than this would never have happened"

"It's not your fault, Chloe" Clark said gently, taking her hand in his own.

"Well the same goes for you" Chloe insisted.

For a few moments there was an awkward silence.

"Those workers...did they ever get back to their own bodies?" Clark asked Chloe, changing the subject and breaking the silence.

"...No..." Chloe sighed finally.

Clark gulped.

What did this mean for Lois? Just as Clark thought that, Chloe's cell began ringing. Chloe quickly grabbed it from her bag and accepted the call.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Miss Sullivan?" It was Doctor Wilson, Lois's doctor.

Clark's ears also perked up at the sound of his voice.

"Yes..." Chloe confirmed, biting her lip anxiously.

"This is Doctor Wilson; I have news regarding your cousin's condition"


	13. Chapter 13 : Conspiracy

"Miss Sullivan?" It was Doctor Wilson, Lois's doctor.

"Yes" Chloe confirmed, anxiously while Clark listened in intently.

"This is Doctor Wilson; I have news regarding your cousin's condition" the doctor told Chloe, in a tired sounding voice.

It wasn't surprising to Chloe; he must have been working hard on doing his best to save her cousin. Hopefully it wasn't in vain.

Lois was a fighter, of course it wasn't, Chloe told herself but couldn't help but feel the dread that was swirling around in the pit of her stomach.

"Please tell me Lois will be okay" Chloe said, her voice desperate.

Clark's expression seemed to be as anxious and desperate for good news as Chloe was feeling and sounding.

If her cousin was dead now, then Chloe didn't know what she would do. Lois was the most important person in her life; even more so than Jimmy or Clark. She was like her sister. Chloe would lose a part of herself if she ever lost Lois.

"We did an emergency, life saving operation on your cousin" Doctor Wilson said his voice weary."We have no idea what happened to her but whatever it was, it left some pretty bad internal damage, identical to someone who could have been hit by a car"

Chloe eye's widened with incredulity and she turned to look at Clark, who looked as stunned as Chloe was. It seemed as if their research was right, Lois had actually, as impossible as it should have been, saved Clark in a spirit form.

Unfortunately, it had seemed to have left damage on her earthly body when her soul had miraculously returned to her body.

"Is she going to be okay?" Chloe asked, her voice trembling with emotion.

"Miss Sullivan, we managed to save her just in time" the doctor told her and if Chloe could see him, she thought he would probably be smiling."She is one lucky woman"

"Thank you, you have no idea how much I love you right now, Doctor" Chloe said, sighing with relief, tears filling her eyes.

She looked at Clark, who also seemed to have let out the breath he had appeared to have been holding.

"I think I can imagine. Have a good night, Miss Sullivan" Doctor Wilson replied, pleasantly before hanging up.

Chloe put her cell phone down before engulfing Clark into a hug, who hugged her back tightly.

"Lois is going to be alright...she's going to make it" Chloe exclaimed, unable to hide her relief.

"Lois is will be fine" Clark echoed Chloe and Doctor Wilson's words, almost as if he could barely allow himself to believe it.

Suddenly the features on Clark's face hardened. Chloe looked at him questionably. Lois was fine, he should be happy right?

"Clark, what's wrong?" Chloe asked him, confused.

"Tess Mercer" he said, his voice cold.

Chloe's expression turned to one of understanding as it dawned on her. They still had worked to do.

"Do we have any evidence to put the B**ch away?" Chloe said, sounding rightfully angry at everything the redheaded woman had almost cost her, her best friend, her life, her fiancé and her cousin.

That was just unforgivable; the woman had done more than Lex Luthor in the few months of her arrival. Chloe should make Luthor's protégé a certificate for setting a new record.

"We could investigate her office; the daily planet will be empty at this time" Clark suggested.

Chloe smirked.

"We should call in some reinforces" she added.

Clark looked at Chloe questionably.

"How can Oliver help us?" he asked with confusion.

Chloe had background information on nearly all of Oliver's team so she was the only one that knew about his past with Tess Mercer and of his feelings he had held for her which was why she wasn't surprised that Clark was confused.

"More than you know, you've just got to trust me on this" Chloe told him firmly. "Can you do that?"

"Of course" Clark answered, sounding curious as to what his best friend was thinking but he figured that it didn't matter just as long as it helped lock Mercer up for a long time.

Tess Mercer was in her office at the daily planet, working as usual.

Normally, everybody went home at this time but Tess was always still there, working and spying on all her employees computers and hacking into their private files, making sure they weren't so much as thinking about something that could put her in an awkward position.

Kind of like that unfortunate incident with Miss Lane. It was a shame about her really; she was such a good reporter. She had, had so much potential. All of it wasted just because she couldn't poke her nose in the right places.

Tess was about to begin hacking into Jimmy Olsen's computer when there was a light tap on her office door. She rolled her eyes. What imbecile had decided to do overtime and come bother her now?

"What is it?" Tess demanded her voice irritable.

The door opened and her expression turned to surprise as a familiar smirking, handsome billionaire blonde came striding in as if he owned the place.

"Hello, Mercy, how's life been treating you?" Oliver Queen asked, eying her up and down suggestively."Very good I'd say from what I can see from where I'm standing"

Tess rolled her eyes. So he was still the same, immature, charming moron then?

"What do you want Queen and what are you doing in my office at this time?" she asked, her voice holding an edge to it so Oliver could tell she was agitated.

"Just wanted to see if you were busy" Oliver said as he casually sat down in a chair opposite hers at her large black desk. She scowled with annoyance.

"Well I am, so go away" Tess ordered.

Oliver raised an eyebrow.

"You don't even have time to go for a drink with an old friend?"

"No" she snapped."So don't bother"

"Mercy, you hurt me" Oliver told her with a mockingly sad face.

"Good, it's the only thing I would ever want to do with you" she spat, her nostrils flared.

"Come on, one date for old time's sake, in all seriousness. I mean your cooped up in this office twenty four hours, surely one date isn't going to hurt you?" Oliver persisted.

Tess eyed him suspiciously. He seemed serious and she really should take a break but she couldn't trust the blonde as far she could throw a stick.

Oliver Queen was an certifiable a******, she didn't love him anymore but eying him up she knew that he could be good for satisfying her needs which rarely ever got filled anymore since taking over as head of Luthorcorp.

Oh what the hell.

"Fine, Queen, one drink but that's it and you'll be coming back with me to the mansion" Tess ordered.

Oliver grinned, his eyes sparkling with mirth.

"I knew you couldn't resist me forever, Mercy"

"Get over yourself and let's make this quick. I have better things to be doing" Tess said sharply grabbing her jacket and suitcase and walking out of her office door, an amused Oliver Queen following on behind her.

As soon as she had left, there was a blur of red and blue and Clark was standing in her office.

Using his heat vision, he corroded the cameras that were placed in the corners of Tess's top floor office.

As soon as he done that, Clark made his way to the files and used his super strength to force them open, not needing to unlock them.

He spent a few minutes rummaging through the folders until one finally caught his eye. It was labelled Lois Lane. Behind that was one labelled Clark Kent and another labelled Chloe Sullivan.

He took them out and placed them on the desk and began reading them.

As he went through Lois's a rush of fury flooded through him. Tess Mercer was much worst than Lex than he had realised. She didn't have the appearance of danger which made her much more threatening than Lex could ever be.

Clark looked through his own file and than Chloe's realising that Tess knew too much. Everything she knew she had probably learnt from Lex.

Thankfully, Oliver was helping him and Chloe bring the redhead down (after all, he cared deeply for Lois too) and Chloe was with John Jones at the police station.

All he had to do now was take the evidence to the cops and Tess Mercer would be arrested. If she refused to cooperate, Oliver had his green arrow gear at his side just in case.

Clark ran at super speed through Metropolis until he reached the police station. When he got there, he found John and Chloe waiting for him in an office.

"Kal-El did you get what you needed?" John asked him, looking concerned.

"It's all here" Clark handed the files to John who began looking through it with Chloe. Both of their expressions were grim.

"Very well, I'll have Miss Mercer taken care of by the end of the night" he promised Clark, who nodded with respect.

"Thank you" he held his arms out for Chloe, who slipped into them comfortably.

"Please take me home Clark, I'm exhausted" she sighed. Clark agreed and swept her back to the talon.

After saying goodbye to Clark, she made her way upstairs and collapsed onto her bed, all the while hoping that Oliver would be able to keep Tess distracted and under his surveillance until John could take her in.


	14. Chapter 14: Caught

Tess was onto her third or fourth drink when it happened.

After reluctantly agreeing to go out with Oliver, the handsome blonde had taken her to one of the most exclusive bars in Metropolis and they were now sat in a private booth in the V.I.P section of the bar.

In a glass window, two blondes and a leggy brunette stripped, making Tess wonder just how desperate some people could be to earn a bit of money.

But inwardly the redhead smirked.

It was those kinds of people that she preyed on because she knew they would be willing to do anything for her, even risk their lives just for a bit of money.

As she drank, she did not notice that Oliver had sent a message from his cell phone.

And it wasn't until a dark skinned man in a trench coat appeared out of seemingly nowhere that she snapped out of her slightly drunken stupor.

"Tess Mercer, you are under arrest for attempted murder of Lois Lane"

Oliver had smirked as he had spotted John Jones making his way through the bar – Oliver had sent him a message just a few moments ago informing him of their location and now could barely disguise the mirth in his eyes.

He had been angry and disappointed when he had learnt what Tess had been doing but it hadn't really surprised him all that much really.

She had changed completely since their time on the island. She had become something that he hadn't even recognised anymore thanks to the help of Lex Luthor.

"Excuse me" Tess demanded coldly."Who are you?"

"I am detective John Jones and I have proof that you were behind the attack on Lois Lane" John replied coolly."Now I am telling you to come with me now"

Tess glared at him and turned to Oliver, looking in vain for support but Oliver merely shrugged at her. Her eyes flashed with rage.

This had been a set up. Oliver had set her up! She could barely believe until she found her hands being forcedly handcuffed behind her back.

"You won't get away with this" Tess sneered as John and Oliver began to walk her out of the bar, ignoring the curious looks of the other party goers that they passed.

"I'm pretty sure we will since you are guilty" Oliver pointed out smugly.

"I can't believe I ever trusted you" Tess hissed, a hint of betrayal in her icy cold voice."I should have known better really"

"Probably but have a nice time in prison. I'm sure orange will look great on you" Oliver retorted before going off to his car while John dragged her into the police car that he had arrived in.

The next morning, Clark found himself at Metropolis general, sat next to Lois's bed in her room.

He had been relieved that they had caught Tess so easily the night before and had managed to sleep a little bit because of it though he was still kept awake by the thoughts of Lois plaguing his mind.

A few moments earlier, Chloe had been with him but had left to go see Jimmy, who had now woken up, ready to be discharged shortly and had been pleased to hear that they had managed to take down Tess Mercer at last.

Now all Clark needed was for Lois to awaken and all would be perfect.

Suddenly there was a small groan coming from Lois and Clark stared at the brunette's face to see her eyes reluctantly flutter open.

She blinked groggily as the room slowly came into focus and saw Clark's face staring down at her. She had felt her pulse race at the intensity of his gaze.

"Smallville?" she croaked as memories of her time as a spirit and what had happened the other night came flooding back to her quickly, giving her a minor headache.

It was weird, it had felt like it had been a dream to Lois but somehow she knew that it had been completely real. And it was definitely real if the look on Clark's face now was anything to go by.

"Lois, you're awake" Clark said with relief."We've been so worried about you"

"I know you have, Smallville" Lois replied, her voice growing stronger now.

Clark blinked with surprise and Lois inwardly smirked. Had he been hoping that she would forget or something?

"You remember what happened?" he frowned.

Lois smiled.

"Yes and I remember everything that you said, Smallville, **everything**" Lois answered and Clark seemed to blush as he realised what she meant by everything.

She remembered that he had told her that he loved her. Lois hoped that he wasn't about to take it back...

"So you remember that..." Clark trailed off, looking uncomfortable.

"That you're the red-blue-blur and that you said you love me, yes" Lois confirmed. "Clark, I don't care if your the red-blue-blur, I don't even care if your super powered and even if you came from another planet, it wouldn't matter to me"

"Actually Lois I do come from another planet, I'm an alien from a planet called krypton" Clark told her, his voice slightly nervous.

He thought he should just tell her while they were on the subject of aliens...

"Very funny, Clark" Lois said, rolling her eyes, thinking he was joking.

"I'm being serious" Clark snapped and Lois's eyes widened.

"You mean you're really an alien?" she exclaimed in shock.

"Yes" Clark admitted uncomfortably, worrying that she wasn't okay with it.

Lois sighed.

"Smallville, you do know it would take more than you being from another planet to stop me from being in love with you?" she asked him and Clark's head snapped up with a jolt at her words.

"You're in love with me?"Clark said in shock.

"You have a problem with that Smallville?" Lois demanded with a grin.

"No problem at all, I just..." Before Clark could continue, Lois grabbed his t-shirt and pulled him towards her, brushing her lips against his.

Clark was surprised at first but quickly began kissing back, slowly deepening the kiss.

Lois let out a moan but just as things had begun getting interesting, the door swung open and an unsuspecting Chloe and a newly discharged Jimmy came walking in. They froze at the sight of Lois and Clark kissing.

"Okay when did this happen? I haven't been out that long have I?" Jimmy joked and Clark and Lois quickly separated, both looking like a deer caught in headlights at being walked in on.

There was an awkward silence for a moment before Chloe finally broke it.

"So Lois, you're finally awake then"

"Good to see you to cos" Lois said, her face red.


	15. Epilogue

**I've finally finished posting this up on here! This is the epilogue now, I already had this story done in February to tell you the truth but haven't had chance to finish posting it up on here. Thanks to everyone whose read and reviewed this!**

Lana Lang was back against her better judgment.

She knew that she probably should have stayed away but Chloe was her best friend and there was just no way she could miss out on her wedding reception; it was bad enough she had skipped the ceremony and after all their years of friendship, it was the least that the beautiful brunette owed her friend.

Unfortunately, Lana still felt anxious and sick to her stomach at the thought of seeing HIM there. She had hated the way that she been forced to end things with him and she knew without a doubt the moment that she saw Clark, all the old feelings would come rushing back.

That was something she was reluctant to face but she guessed another good thing coming to the wedding would be giving her closure over her long drawn out angst riddled relationship with Clark Kent.

Lana decided to go mostly because of Chloe but it was partly because she wanted to see Clark, leave and be able to move forward with her life. To go back to her old relationship with him might be safe, familiar and definitely comforting but it would also be unhealthy and would be like taking five steps back.

No, she needed to see him, end things between the two of them for good and then leave. It would be as simple as that.

So Lana got dressed up in a sexy black dress, curled her hair and spent time on her make-up. She only wanted to look good for Chloe and Jimmy; she told herself firmly, no other reason.

After she had finished getting ready, she left the Talon, where she had been staying since her brief return to Smallville and wasn't all that surprised to see Oliver Queen waiting outside with the keys to his no doubt ridiculously over priced car in his hands especially since he was the one who had been convincing her to attend her best friend's wedding.

He grinned at her with his disarmingly charming smile and Lana wondered for a moment how on earth Lois managed to let him go but she quickly shook that thought out of her mind.

Oliver Queen had never really been her type though he was admittedly handsome.

"I'm sure Chloe and Jimmy are going to be thrilled you decided to drop in" Oliver commented as they got into his car.

"I am so happy for them; I can't wait to see Chloe in her dress" Lana smiled as Oliver began to drive.

"Clark's walking her down the aisle you know?" Oliver informed her casually, while looking at her briefly from the corner of his eye.

Lana's smile dropped a little.

"That's no surprise really; Clark and Chloe have always been so close" she replied, trying to make her tone of voice sound light and breezy.

"Yeah they have" Oliver remarked and then thought of another certain woman in Clark's life that he had always been close too and was now closer to than ever before.

Lois spent a long time getting ready that morning, putting on her pretty orange satin bridesmaid dress that actually looked better on her than she had thought it would.

She had to give Chloe credit; her cousin had great taste and there was no frills in sight like Chloe had threatened if Lois had continued to make jibes about her fiance until after the wedding.

Lois had bit back the overwhelming urge to then ask if it would be okay to tease Jimmy after they were married then. The brunette seriously didn't want to wear frills, especially now she was dating Clark.

She would hate to think about the many remarks he would have been able to think up; she didn't think her pride would be able to take it.

Finally, after she was dressed, she put on her make up and pinned her dark brown hair into a loose bun. Smiling, she examined herself and nodded satisfied with her appearance.

"Not bad, Lane, not bad at all" she muttered to herself before stepping out of the bedroom she had changed in and walking out onto the hallway, to the staircase where she spotted Clark standing in the foyer.

He looked up and his eyes widened. His mouth hung open a little as he took in the sight of his girlfriend.

"Lois, you look beautiful" he said at last, after barely managing to get the words out. Lois inwardly smirked and then looked him over as well.

"You look quite good yourself Smallville" she replied, coming down the stairs and giving him a kiss on the lips. He deepened it but they were forced to break apart when Jimmy made an appearance and wanted Clark to read his vows to him as he recorded him.

Lois would never tell the photographer but the vows were the sweetest thing that she had ever heard. Chloe was a lucky woman to have someone who loved her so deeply.

After that, Jimmy filmed their congratulations on his video recorder and as always, Lois stuck her foot in it in the only way that she could. Clark rolled his eyes before dragging her away and towards the barn where the ceremony was due to start.

Lana and Oliver finally made it Kent farm where Lana had been surprised to learn the wedding and the reception was taking place.

She got out of the car and followed Oliver towards the barn. The doors opened and the brunette smiled widely, slipping into the shadows so that she wouldn't be seen.

She wanted to wait for the right moment to startle Chloe and Jimmy, who were dancing closely in the middle of the barn that had been set up as a dance floor and their eyes were gazing deeply into each others as if nobody else in the world existed.

The two of them shared a kind of love and connection that Lana could only dream of having. Even she and Clark had never been that close or that intimate. They had rarely connected that well, a fact that hurt Lana to realize despite the truth of it.

Her eyes skimmed the dance floor, searching for the last person that she wanted to see but knew that she needed too. Her brown eyes finally found him and widened in shock at what she saw.

After the ceremony had ended, the room was rearranged so that there were a few tables and the centre of the barn was made into a dance floor.

Chloe and Jimmy were dancing closely, their bodies swaying with the music as Chloe wrapped her arms around Jimmy and in return he held her close almost protectively.

Lois stood watching them, feeling slightly wistful until her boyfriend held her hand tightly.

" Would you like to dance with me Lois?" Clark asked her with a smile.

Lois simply smirked. "I thought you would never ask, Smallville"

Clark rolled his eyes at Lois's typical response and dragged her into the dance floor and the two began to dance. Clark pressed her body closer into his and Lois let out an almost moan-like sigh.

"I love you, Lois" Clark said suddenly as they danced. Lois smiled to herself. He told her this everyday since they had gotten together at the hospital. She knew he was scared of losing her again and made sure she knew how he felt all the time.

It was sweet, she had to admit but there was no way she would ever admit that to his face.

"I guess I love you too Smallville despite your annoying habit of disappearing on me every five seconds" she whispered in his ear, a smirk gracing her features.

"You know why I disappear" Clark retorted, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you don't need to remind me since I practically write about it everyday" Lois answered with a smile.

"I guess this kind of makes you my sidekick; spreading the word about me" Clark teased and Lois glared at him playfully.

"I'm a reporter Kent, I am in no shape or form your sidekick and don't you forget that" Lois told him before adding smugly "If anything you're MY sidekick"

"What?" Clark exclaimed with a raised eyebrow.

"You're the one who tags along with me for a story" Lois grinned. "I'm the one turning you into a half decent reporter, Smallville" Clark was going to say something biting but decided to let her win this one because he knew that Lois would never let it drop otherwise.

Mentally, he sighed.

"Yes, Lois, without you I'd be nothing" he said sarcastically.

"Glad you figured that one out" she replied before the song ended. Clark was about to move away but Lois dragged him back before standing on her tip-toes and kissing him.

Clark decided that if he had to be anybody's sidekick (which he wasn't fully convinced he was anyway) then he was glad to be Lois's.

Lana felt breathless all of a sudden.

When she had decided to come to the wedding, see Chloe and get closure over Clark, she hadn't been expecting to come and catch him kissing Lois passionately as if the two of them were alone and not in a room full of people, most of which were now staring at the show that Clark and Lois were putting on.

Soon the two seemed to have realized that they were in a room full of people because they quickly separated their faces flushed with embarrassment and lust.

Immediately, Lana felt a pang of jealously. She hadn't felt this way in a long time. She had been expecting her feelings to come rushing back at full force but Lana had been certain that Clark would be dateless and single so it would have been easier to end things between them face to face and get the proper closure they both deserved.

Unfortunately, Lana now realized a small part of her had hoped that Clark would take her back. Tears prickled the corner of her eyes, she should have known it would have been a bad idea to come here.

Before she could leave however, Chloe seemed to have caught sight of her.

"Oh my god" Chloe exclaimed with a beam and ran over to Lana before engulfing her in a hug. Lana hugged her back and put on a forced smile before her eyes met a shocked Clark's.

Beside him, Lois's expression flashed with jealously and anger before settling into one of resignation. She began to walk away but Clark held her back, forcing her to stay.

Lana felt the hurt from before double. There was something between Lois and Clark that had never been between her and Clark. Even she could see that, just from the protective way Clark was standing in front of Lois, holding her hand and the way that Lois stared at Clark.

"Lana" Clark said, suddenly looking uncomfortable. His shock had faded fast and now he didn't look at her longingly or with angst like he would have done had this been a year or few months earlier.

No, he just looked awkward, as if somebody had said something insulting to someone else and Clark was caught in the middle of it but the real situation was much worst than that.

"Clark" Lana replied, her eyes going from him to Lois and then back to Clark again.

"I didn't expect you to come" he muttered.

Beside her, Chloe was squirming uncomfortably.

"You and Lois have gotten close" Lana commented.

"Yeah…listen, I think we should talk privately" Clark remarked, noticing that all stares were on them. He looked at Lois, who nodded and joined Chloe, Jimmy and Oliver by the cake before walking out of the barn with Lana, who was still in shock by everything that she had just witnessed.

They walked outside and found themselves standing by the fence that overlooked the field.

Lana gave Clark a weak smile that slipped after just a few seconds. "So when did you and Lois become so…"

"She was in an accident a few months ago and I realized that she meant more to me than I had ever realized. She has always been there for me when you haven't and she knows my secret now" Clark confessed." Even before she knew my secret, she still knew me better than anybody else. She's the first person I've willingly told my secret too besides my parents"

Lana felt tears of pain well up in her eyes. Clark's words cut through her heart like a knife but she knew that he was only trying to be honest with her and that she appreciated.

It was all she had ever wanted from him but he had never been able to do that until now. What hurt the most though was the honesty he had never willingly given Lana; he had willingly given to Lois.

As much as she liked Lois and knew her and Clark would never be together again, she could not help but think spitefully, what did Lois have that she didn't?

"There's always been something about Lois that drew you in" Lana admitted." I just don't understand what that was…why couldn't it have been that way with me?"

Clark sighed. He didn't want to hurt Lana but he couldn't lie to her anymore either.

"She waited for me" he said softly, forcing his eyes to stare directly into Lana's." Lois never asked anything from me and she didn't put me on a pedestal. She treated me like a normal farm boy, she made me feel comfortable enough just to be me and I never appreciated her for any of those things up until a couple of months ago. Lois is sarcastic, she's obnoxious, she's rude and can be tactless but she's the most amazing person I've ever met. The most special person I've met"

Lana knew without a doubt from Clark's sweet words about Lois that he was in deeply love with Chloe's cousin and maybe had been even when they were still together.

It was those words that Lana suddenly realized that she had never been able to give what Clark wanted. They had been too very different people trying to force it to work out because it was all that they knew, they had both been too afraid to move on with their lives because they had been scared of getting hurt.

But they had ironically enough hurt each other much more than they had been hurt by the rest of the world…at least emotionally anyway. Lana knew this now and suddenly felt as if a burden had been lifted from her chest.

She smiled openly now and this time it was genuine. For the first time that night she had been glad she had come to the wedding and caught that display.

It had set her free from all the anxiety, angst and pain she had been feeling over the last few years. Clark was happier now than he had ever been with her and one day, Lana knew that one day her love for Clark would completely fade into friendship and she would find the right person for her and she would feel the same way that Clark was right now.

Her and Clark could be friends, it would be better that way. Lana knew that now and it felt as if blindfolds had been taken off from her eyes.

"Clark, thank you" Lana told him, giving his hand a quick squeeze. "I'm happy for you and I wish you and Lois a lot of happiness. You two belong together; I should have seen the signs sooner"

Clark looked at her confused. "But-"

"Clark, coming here, seeing you and Lois and talking to you, it's made me realize our paths have always been heading in different directions and it's time we let go, well _I_, let go of the past"

Clark felt relieved as Lana quickly hugged him. "We'll always be friends but we can never go back to being together – I know that now so thank you for helping me figure that out, I'll be alright with time. Now we should go back and enjoy the rest of the party"

"I'm glad you're going to be okay" Clark smiled before walking with her back into the barn.

Lana saw Lois staring at them anxiously and merely nodded and smiled as Clark walked to his girlfriend's side. Lois smiled back and nodded as Lana went to give Chloe her congratulations.

It was as if a silent messaged had been passed between the two women and they both knew that everything was alright.

Chloe hugged Lana and the rest of the night went without any trouble at all. The next morning, Lana Lang left Smallville without any regrets and never looked back, eventually unexpectedly finding new love with Chloe and Clark's childhood best friend, Pete Ross.


End file.
